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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Our Wedding Ceremony: Gathering Words

I recently stumbled across a program from our "Bollywood Farm Wedding." And, I realized that I had never actually written about how I created our Wedding Ceremony, which is a shame because it was what I put most of my energy into.Let me tell you, it's hard to find an"Inter-faith Jain Wedding Ceremony" floating around the Internet. Or even an "Indian Inter-Faith Wedding Ceremony." I looked and looked and looked. I wanted to use some Jain Prayers and pay homage to my Husband's Indian heritage without being sacrilegious. He didn't want to be married by a Priest and have a traditional Jain Ceremony.If we weren't going to be married by a Jain Priest, I thought it would be poignant to be married by our Mothers. But, his is very shy, so my Mama was the sole Officiant. My parents were married by a relative and my Grand-parents were married by my Great-great-grandfather. So, it seemed right.Our Ceremony began when my Husband processed out with 20 or so of his friends and cousins in an "Informal Baraat". Then, his Brother and Father welcomed everyone. His Mother and an Auntie said the Navakar Mantra. And, then there was the Bridal Procession (more on that later).My Mother then spoke these Gathering Words.I love this quote...

"Each of us was brought into the world without any decision of his own. Each of us was stamped with the condition of mortality from the moment of conception. And so, of the three most significant events in our lives, birth, marriage, and death, it is only marriage that we have the full power of personal decision."